One of three lawsuits against two former Des Moines police officers, who resigned after the department found they planted drugs on a suspect, has been dismissed.

A Norwalk man claimed the former senior officers, Joshua Judge and Tyson Teut, planted drugs on him during an arrest in 2016. But his lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice Thursday by his attorneys one day before a motion hearing.

Judge, 32, and Teut, 31, resigned from the department in December 2016 after officials said the two planted methamphetamine on a suspect in January 2015. Teut was sentenced to probation in June after he pleaded guilty to non-felonious misconduct in office. Judge has not been charged.

In his lawsuit filed in February, Clifton Johnson, 48, sued Des Moines, its police force and the two officers, accusing them of malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, and slander, among other claims.

Johnson accused Teut of planting drugs on him before handing evidence to investigators, according to court documents. He also claimed other members of the department knew of the behavior.

It's not clear why Johnson's lawsuit was dismissed; his attorneys did not return calls or emails seeking comment. The city's attorney could also not be reached by phone.

Teut's attorney, Gregory Brown, said he was prepared to argue for the case to be dismissed Friday morning during a motion for summary judgment.

Judge's attorney, Chester Woodburn, said he was convinced Judge Samantha Gronewald would have dismissed the case had she heard their motion. He said he assumed Johnson's attorneys "realized they didn't have a case."

The dismissal without prejudice means Johnson's attorneys could file another lawsuit.

Johnson was arrested Feb. 27, 2016, at a Motel 6 on Fleur Drive, where authorities said he had drugs in his left sock, according to the lawsuit. The clear, plastic baggie in his sock contained a white powdery substance that field tested positive for meth, according to charging documents signed by Teut.

White powder found in a bag Johnson had tested positive for cocaine, court records show. He also had a blunt filled with marijuana in one of his front pockets, police said.

Johnson was charged with three aggravated misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance, his third or subsequent offense. He later pleaded guilty to one of the counts and the others were dismissed, according to court documents.

After Johnson was read his rights in court, a judge asked him to recount the day he was arrested before she asked questions. Johnson said he was getting a ride from a Salvation Army treatment center when he was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

"Where were the drugs? You had crack cocaine. Is that correct, sir?" the judge asked, according to a transcript of the hearing.

"No, ma'am. Just cocaine. Powder cocaine," he said.

"Cocaine. Powder cocaine. Where was it on your person?" the judge asked.

"It was in my sock," Johnson said.

"In your sock," she responded.

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

Asked if he knew the drugs were illegal to possess, Johnson told the judge he did.

Before he was sentenced, Johnson asked the judge, Mary Pat Gunderson, to let him redeem himself as a community member.

"I am no good for anybody behind these bars," Johnson, a father of 12, told the judge.

Records show Johnson was sentenced in June 2016 to an indeterminate term of no more than five years in prison.

Trials have been set for fall 2019 in the two other lawsuits against the former officers, which also claimed they planted drugs.

One man suing, Kyle Weldon, had his conviction of drug possession dismissed when the misconduct allegations became public. He spent 32 days in jail.

Tyson Teut(Photo11: Polk County Sheriff’s Office)

Police officials have said an internal investigation — which reviewed each of the hundreds of cases worked by the officers since they joined the department in August 2013 — found the two planted drugs in the one January 2015 case.

No other officers were accused of wrongdoing, the force said at the time. Judge and Teut had salaries of $73,132 when they resigned.

The dismissal ends one of several pending lawsuits against Des Moines police.

In August, two African-American men filed a lawsuit against the city and its police claiming they were racially profiled July 15 by two white officers who pulled over their car for no apparent reason.

In another lawsuit, a Des Moines man claimed his constitutional rights were violated when an officer with a history of excessive force attacked him in his home after he called the police for help, fracturing his ribs.